The recent lawsuit involving Johnson & Johnson, a major pharmaceutical company, is truly disgraceful. It is sad to hear that a company who's products are marketed to promote health and wellness to people would market antipsychotic and anti-seizure drugs to people who they are not meant for despite major health risks. I understand that the company wants to sell more products and make more money, but of course this is not the way to go about doing that. Putting buyers at risk to increase revenues, especially children and the elderly, is one of the worst things a company can do in my opinion.
Now, Johnson &Johnson payed 2.2 Billion dollars in fines for this. This seems like it is a huge amount of money that would actually set the company back for their terrible actions. However, it is almost nothing to them. In 2012, Johnson & Johnson's revenue was about $67 billion. I don't think the company should be forced to shut down or anything, they are still a (semi) reputable company that sells good products that people use every day. But, the penalty definitely should be big enough for them to have to pay the price for what they did. People cannot be manipulated in unsafe ways like this, especially when it comes to medicine.
I agree with you. It is perfectly fine and understandable to want to make more money and try out different ways to do so. However, it must be done honorably and with consideration for others. Also, I feel that those who are high up in Johnson and Johnson should be held accountable for their actions. Them tossing what is a small amount to them off to the victims is not enough. This does not send a message to anyone else who is doing the same thing, or running any other kind of corrupt large corporation. Prison time is the only way to get these guys to take it seriously.
ReplyDeleteI do think that the more responsible people in Johnson and Johnson should be held more accountable for their actions. I agree that the company should not be forced to shut down but some people should be fired at the very least. I hope other large corporations are not doing illegal activities as well.
ReplyDeleteHow much more should a company be fined for it's incorrect actions, and by what means would one determine the amount? I remember that in the original McDonald's coffee spill lawsuit, the jury (or whomever decides the amount), determined that the amount to be paid by McDonald's should be the worth of two day's sales of coffee - roughly 2 million buck, yea?
ReplyDeleteI think the same route should be applied to Johnson & Johnson - have them pay for the sales of this drug!
It does seem like some laws need to change as a result of this. It seems to me that there would be a possibility of prosecuting the people who put this policy into action. I am wondering if there is a specific, technical legal reason why they cannot prosecute individuals, or if this is a discretionary judgement. That would be an interesting topic for a paper, actually.
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